Kirsten and Mark

So…I’ve been workingon this pot for 2 weeks now. Just adding to it whenever I have time…so this isn’t all new info.

We’re so happy to have little Cambry Ann Reeder join our family. She looks a lot like Britton–same coloring, dark hair, facial features. She has a tiny round face and a top lip that sticks out over the bottom one. Great hair pattern–no crazy cow licks. This girl likes to be held! She doesn’t sleep nearly as well when put down. She acts like she’s hungry all the time, roots a lot, but doesn’t like to latch on–and when she does, it’s just a minute or two, then she is done…for 1-2 seconds before rooting around again. Has a sweet little cry, but doesn’t use it too often. She Loves her binky. She’s a sucker this one, and if she didn’t have it she’d be attached to me most of the time.

She’s a good little sleeper at night. Almost all the time she only wakes up to eat, then goes right back to sleep. Yay for me! And, she loves to sleep cuddled on me too. Sometimes it’s great, other times, like when I need to do things, not as great.

She is SOOOOO loved by her big sister (and brother). Kaia is very eager to put her binky in as soon as she cries.  And rock her, and try to hold her and give her kisses galore. It’s rough sometimes because she’s just so rough on her, so I have to watch her constantly.

We just love her to pieces. She’s so sweet and a little doll girl. Mark wants me to mention how much he loves her too. He’s a very sweet and loving Daddy to her, and has been a big help with the older kids too!

Ever since his birthday last year Britton talked about “my birthday next year, when I turn 5, I want an Angry Birds Space party.” We thought that over the year he’d come up with something else. No. It was always the same.

So, as his birthday came closer we started talking about it and he decided what he wanted the invitations to be. What he wanted his cake to be like and what games should be played.

He got to invite 5 friends, and luckily they were all able to come! It mostly turned out pretty great; and he loved it!

At first he didn’t want any food other than cake, but I kind of insisted. It was pretty much food from the Utopia Planet level of the game…junk foods. Pretzels, popcorn, chocolate chip cookies, caramel apples. We had “Ice Bird” water too.

To start off we played a few games. First was Pin the Antenna on the Space Egg. They all liked that one. Then we played Pass the Angry Bird (like hot potato.) That was fun too.

The decor/set up

Filled with kids having snacks. The Sacks were decorated by the kids for their “loot”

Friends. Bryce, Chloe, Ben, Kaia, Reece, Jack and Theo

Anyway, after snacks he opened presents. He loved them all!

Lego “Cars” car from Theo

Dinosaur book from Bryce

Game from Chloe and Ben

Angry Birds Space from Jack.

Then it was cake time.

Britton’s cake. Glad it turned out well in the end. It wasn’t so pretty a couple of hours before.

Yeah, that’ was Kaia. She thought it would be fun to eat the pieces and pour food coloring onto it and cut at it with the little paring knife.  I was horrified and she got in big trouble.

He was happy to blow out his candles.

It was a really fun party and he had a great time with his friends. They played for a little bit until pick up time (yes, he’s big enough now that some moms left. It was kind of cool.)

Happy Angry Birds Birthday Britton!

We were so excited to have our awesome friends Kristie and Alia come visit us in February. We visited them last year in NC and had such a great time. But missed them terribly.

Our week was pretty action packed, but super fun.

We went to a place at nearby Coyote Point called CuriOdyssey that is a science/hands on/animal exploration center. The kids had a lot of fun trying everything out.

Cool birds

The otters were really fun.

After a while we headed over to the big castle park that’s also part of Coyote Point. Somehow, I don’t have a picture of the whole thing, but you can see it here: Coyote Point Park. It’s like a big castle with other smaller things surrounding it.

Kaia hatched from her egg

Apparently I was too busy chasing K around to take pictures of the place. REALLY?! But, they had a lot of fun and didn’t want to leave.

We also headed to the Oakland Zoo. It was an overcast morning, and a little chilly, but nice since there weren’t lots of people.

Cool zebras

Riding frogs

Becoming turtles. They thought the climbing things were as fun as the animals.

Silly monkey that put on a show of strength for everyone. He came over to where everyone was standing and just stayed like that for awhile, then he moved into another position and stayed there, like he was showing off. So funny.

Kaia loved the carousel as usual. It’s her “must  do” thing whenever there is one. Britton rode on some cars that are his favorite at the zoo.

We had a fun time there…and it warmed up just as we were leaving!

One day Mark had a meeting in the city, so we went up for a day of fun too. We headed to SF’s Golden Gate Park. I never realized how huge it is! We found a children’s play area and the kids loved it! They really didn’t want to leave.

Fun swings.

Then went to another part of the park called Stow Lake that has an island in the middle. This part here is Strawberry Hill. The waterfall and everything were really pretty.

Unfortunately, we didn’t have lots of time here, but will definitely have to go back. While Mark went to his meeting we had lunch and then visited the Ghirardelli store and cafe.

Their hot chocolate is sooooo good! But, I was super full afterward.

Apparently we wore them out!

Since it was almost Valentine’s Day we decided to make and decorate cookies.

The kids had a lot of fun.

Kaia liked eating the frosting best.

Britton’s getting to be a good little decorator.

Silly girls in a box.

Kristie and me.

It was sooooo fun having them here. Kaia would wake up and ask for Alia; and was really sad after they were gone. So were we all.

Hope we get to see them again next year!

Just some random pictures that didn’t fit with a much else, but are pretty cute and should be recorded for posterity.

Cute towels

Cute Sunday Clothes

I finally convinced her to wear her “princess dress”

She likes to do art too.

Big Bite

Silly boy

At a friend’s baby’s blessing the kids got a little silly. Kaia helped herself to treats and Britton danced for everyone.

Big Girl

This was a special occasion, water inside and car stopped, but she thinks she is such a big girl.

For my birthday we weren’t planning on doing anything…well, I wasn’t. But Mark wanted to go out and at the last minute what I’d planned for dinner didn’t work out, so to Cheesecake Factory we went.

It was fun and the kids were great.

Merry Christmas!

Good morning!

The requisite “line up in the hallway” photo

It was completely crazy in here. When there are 10 people with gifts in a small area, there is bound to be a little confusion. Combine that with K and B opening presents  from people other than those just in the room–at the same time–and I have no idea who gave them most of the presents they got. But, they had fun!

Guitar from Santa

Bouncy Horse from Santa

Eruptor!!!!! His desperpately wanted Skylander.

Fun horsey

Opening Presents

So many presents!

Kaia wearing and playing with most of her gifts at the same time–Jacket, Tutu, Dora Backpack, Coloring book, Bouncy horse etc.

Pretty homemade wrapping paper by my cousin

Playing with Eruptor and his new cars

Love my guy!

Making breakfast with Grammie

We had a delicious French Toast breakfast and then hung out most of the day. It was nice to just relax and have fun together.

Later in the day most of us (all but Mom and the kids) went to see Les Miserable. Shaela and I liked it. Mark thought it was ok. Everyone else would’ve rather seen something else. But, since I’m one who loved it, I think it was time well spent.

We had yummy dinner of turkey, stuffing, potatoes and veggies. Dessert was pie and yummy too!

It was a lovely Christmas and I’m happy we were able to be with family and spend time together.

It was quite an eventful day. but mostly pretty good.

Watching movies with Aunt Shaela…

Running errands, that really didn’t require photos, but lunch at Chick-Fil-A should be mentioned since it was really yummy.

Then, after a whole lot of wrangling and a few mishaps (including a stolen car) we ended up at Auntie Pat’s house for dinner.

Kaia loved the visiting doggy

Sharing a chair with my girlie

Yummy gingerbread cookies

Apparently this is a comfy position for eating cookies

Opening Christmas Eve Jammies

Ta-da! He’s a rock star

Cute Kitty

Then we read their daily Christmas story since we knew they’d fall asleep in the car. It was a nice night after all the craziness died down. Glad we were there with family.

Glad we (Santa) didn’t have much to deliver.

Somehow we ended up with matching/coordinating outfits for Christmas this year. The kids’ clothes weren’t even planned to match and Mark and I just happened to it by what we had already.

Living far away from friends is sometimes hard, but it’s fun when we get together.

Sometimes it’s rough having creative and artistic friends…though they’re always good for inspiration.

Chillin on the chair

Ever since the billboards and ads for Cars Land have popped up Britton has been wanting to go to Disneyland. We knew the kids really didn’t need any more “things” so we decided that since we were headed to So Cal for Christmas anyway, we’d take them as their gift from us this year.

Needless to say–they LOVED it! Warning: There are A LOT of pictures in this post.

Starting off the day: Welcome to Disneyland!

We started in Cars Land because it was what Britton was most excited about. It’s a good thing we did too, because the fast passes for the Racers ride were gone by 9:30!

Our first ride was Tow Mater’s Junkyard Jamboree. It was fun waiting because there was so much to see. And the ride was fun too.

waiting to ride Tow Mater

The place really does look like Radiator Springs. It’s pretty cool. Of course, Disney was very detailed.

Next up was Luigi’s Flying Tires. It was really fun. Kaia liked it since she just had to lean back and forth to make it move.

Meeting Stanley

After riding all the rides we could, and knowing we’d be back later, we headed to the other parts of California Adventure. B and Mark went on Soarin’ over California while K and I went to Bug’s Land and rode the Chew Chew Train.

Then we got lucky. We were waiting to see the Chipmonks, but then Mickey came around and we got to see him instead.

She was so excited to see Mickey–and she thought it was so funny when she touched his nose. She kept going around saying “I touched his NOSE!”

Someone took our picture before we went in. B hated the sun in his eyes.

After we met back up we headed over toward fantasy land and rode the Buzz Lightyear ride. The line was SOOOOO long! But, the kids did pretty well with the shooting and got decent scores! We also saw the Captain EO movie. I was really not thinking they’ like it, but it turns out they did! I hadn’t seen it since I was young, so it brought back lots of memories.

Small World was a must–Britton remembered it from before. I love when it’s decorated for Christmas.

It’s a Small World was a big hit!

She loves the carousel, so we couldn’t go without doing that either.

When B was little I brought him at Christmas time and remembered seeing Santa in a cute little house. So, we went searching and found they’d made a whole village with crafts an games and activities.

More Mickey!

She loves hot chocolate!

This Santa was the slowest ever! When we got there, the line was probably about 8-10 groups long. We waited over half an hour. He took pictures with everyone in the group, in multiple combinations and liked to chat. And RIGHT before us, the handlers decided it was break time. So, the kids checked out the tree an other decorations. But, the kids liked it and had fun.

Then we did cookie decorating. And they were actually pretty good–except for the frosting.

She couldn’t resist getting Jessie’s nose either!

After that we headed over to Frontierland an decided to ride the Riverboat.

Waiting for the steamboat. They were excited! I’ve never been on it before either.

Beautiful sunset. The boat ride was really nice and pretty. It was fun seeing a part of the park I hadn’t before.

Then we went to Haunted Mansion. Kaia fell asleep just as we were on our way over, and strollers can’t go in line, so B and Mark waited in line while I stayed by the front. Britton was definitely not  excited about this ride, but once we figured out why, we assured him it was just pretend and he was fine.

I love it decorated for Halloween, and for Christmas. It’s so fun looking. Kaia slept the whole time.

Afterward we made our way back out to head over to Cars Land again to redeem the fast passes gotten in the morning for the Racers ride. It was just in time to see Cinderella’s Castle transformed for the night.

Back in California Adventure Britton was excited for the ride. We’d measured him earlier in the day, and he was BARELY 40 inches. And, he went on Soarin’ Over California with no problem.

It’s amazing how real it looks. This is really a pretty small area. So, the sad part is they were super strict with the height. And, since it was night and he was tired, B wasn’t standing up as tall as he could. So, they deemed him too short. He was so disappointed. But, we managed to have fun exploring while Mark went by himself.

The end of the night was the World of Color program. B and I had seen it before, but K and Mark hadn’t.

This picture definitely doesn’t do it justice. It’s mostly so vibrant and beautiful. B liked it. K was just tired and only watched a little bit.

Miss K with her new Princess Minnie. That was what she chose as her souvenir. I asked if she liked Disneyland and she said, “Yes. It’s so fun.” With a high pitched emphasis on the SO.

We did have a fun day. We were all tired, and happy to get back on the bus to our car. But, we’re glad we went.

Like last year, we decided to have a a little “pre-Christmas” present opening before we headed to the OC for the holiday.

Sweet picture from B’s Sunbeam teachers

They had a lot of fun and were too spoiled–even before the holiday!